


To Build A Home

by orphan_account



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, How Do I Tag, Izuleo from first to third years, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 06:11:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19941511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: To Izumi, Leo's antics lacks a definition of a home as he was always a home wherever he is. One question changed Izumi's whole perspective when it comes to home, who knows how he managed to give a home to a person.(My take on ESO prompt 117 : Izuleo from their first years to the beginning of their third years)





	To Build A Home

* * *

Izumi should’ve walked away from all the ruckus he saw in his first years. Joining Chess in itself was a terrible mistake he made in his high school life.

But one set of eyes stared at him like he holds the entire universe, and he too, found himself agreeing with the person’s whims. Maybe he shouldn’t be too quick to agree with this person. Except, he was known to be a person who made terrible decisions in his life, so he rolls along.

“Leo-kun, quit that will you? What are you, a child?” He sighs as he saw Leo once again lost in his own little bubble that he created himself.

The boy was a free soul, unbound by anything that desperately tried to keep his feet on the ground.

In short, he was always above the ground and the times he is, he was always immersed in the songs he created out of nowhere as the heavens whisper to him. He acted as if he is at home no matter wherever he was.

Home. His own home gave him a feeling that he was always loved, so he never needed anything more than his mama and his papa’s love. To him, Leo acted like every place is his home, and it’s not like he cares enough to know why Leo could always be at ease.

Izumi hits him lightly in the head. “Idiot. Stop that, will you? How many times do I need to tell you to start acting as a proper idol and not some sort of child!” He scolded him, hands on his hips as he earns booming laughter from the orange head in front of him. Leo stuck his tongue out.

“Stupid Sena! You’re ruining my masterpiece. Look at it, it’s now ruined thanks to you!” He points at the marker that skid across his music sheet. Leo pouts, as he talked about how his masterpiece had absolutely been perfect before Izumi barged in and ruined it when he was supposed to make songs for Chess.

Leo Tsukinaga was the composer for Chess known for being a prodigy and genius. He didn’t understand why the other members didn’t even try to approached him outside of unit activities or asking him to make songs for their unit. After all, he was a genius only loved for his songs.

“Well it’s your fault anyways, why are you always acting like this? Like you were always at ease, like you were always-” ( ** _feeling at home wherever you are)._**

“Ah, feeling at home? I wonder where that comes from.” Izumi cursed himself as he might have voiced his thoughts out loud to the idiot opposite of him.

“Home, is it? I don’t really know what’s in a home, so I just try to make everyone happy by being here.” Leo said with a rather melancholic expression. His eyes glistened as he sat on the table of the unused classroom they are occupying.

Izumi should be confused by the sudden change of tone Leo has been speaking to him.

The boy was known to be an enigma, a mystery lots of people would rather stay away than to get themselves into.

“Well, why don’t you start by defining it? Home is the place where you grow up after all, can’t you at least appreciate your parents?” Izumi said to him. Leo just smiled at him as if it wasn’t the most obvious thing, except it wasn’t something short of happy.

To Izumi, his smile was serene and calm, yet his eyes held a storm of emotions. It was weird of Leo, a straightforward sort of guy to say something so vague that people were not able to define such question.

“Well, if you say it like that, I do thank my parents! Because now I am here, in all my glory, as a person gifted by the entire universe that is greater than Mozart! Well without them, I wouldn’t be right here with you, Sena!” Ignoring his display of expressions earlier, Leo returned to his casual laughter and energetic state as he began to compose again. Izumi wasn’t satisfied by Leo’s answer, but he just let it slide.

**_No use in trying to pester the idiot more than what he has answered me. Or so at least, he thought._ **

“You can’t define a home as something like that! I think I heard Obaa-chan talking about it once that home is a state or person? Or a place? Something like that! It’s not limited to house and parents, Sena.” He answered casually while scribbling another masterpiece into the paper. Not satisfied with the answer he got, Izumi just stood there and watched Leo’s antics.

“There is no definition to a home. Or maybe I just haven’t found one.” Leo was a pure boy who made songs based on his feelings, love and goodwill. The boy holds no malice, no grudge and absolutely no resentment towards anyone who might have wronged him, perhaps the entire run down school system they were trapped in received no hate from him.

Yet, Izumi finds it weird that the simple boy who loves everyone doesn’t know how to define home for himself or his parents.

* * *

To this day, he always wondered what kind of person raised Leo Tsukinaga and what kind of household he grows up in. Because there shouldn’t be anyone in this world who was capable of being happy and loving all the time, except if you’re a boy named Leo Tsukinaga.

“About the other day… Home I think it’s more of a feeling.” Leo said out of the blue. Izumi suddenly remembers the conversation that day, in an empty classroom when they were in their first years.

Now in their second year, Izumi wonders why Leo decided to bring the topic up again.

Home… the word that he decided to look up and as it turns out, maybe Leo is right. (Even if he won’t admit it to his face) To him, home was always his family. His papa, mama, and him.

As his Papa and Mama love him, he loves them and they made him always feel at home whenever they spent their time together. That’s one of the definitions of home, isn’t it? The place where you were born or raised? Family?

To Izumi Sena, that was the definition of home.

“Sena! Sena~ So you do think home is a feeling, right? Because if it’s only a place, then that’s a house right? House is the place, and home is the feeling. But home could also be the house. Gaaah~ This is so confusing, why did you even ask me this question?”

“Idiot, you’re the one who brought this topic again, so maybe you should ask yourself. And why wouldn’t you even consider your house as your home anyway? If home has so many definitions, then what’s the point of calling your house and family as a home if you spend time with others and could call it feeling at home?”

“Mmm, I don’t really know Sena, tell me! What’s a home? Is it a place, a feeling, or is it people? If it’s a place then my house and this school is my home! If it’s a feeling, then whenever I get inspiration I’m at home.”

“What about people? Feelings? Aren’t you ignoring one of the things you were supposed to answer me?”

“For people, well maybe it’s you. You made me feel at home.”

“What about me that makes you feel at home, huh? What kind of nonsense are you spouting anyway?” He doesn’t really want to admit that being called a home to Leo for someone like him is something he doesn’t deserve.

They have been getting more busy, as the recent events that happened caused them to be split among their units. Now with a new name called Knights, just the two of them, they worked together much more often now that the others in Chess was no longer with them.

Leo was once again back to his composing, as he started to scribble at the scattered paper in the empty unused classroom.

Izumi kicked his foot into him, as he grumbled under his breath. Leo definitely likes to ignore him, huh. “I’m not sure either? Home makes you feel safe and you can be yourself at home! I can be myself around you, that’s why I think you are my home. But everywhere and everyone is also my home? I dunno, maybe that’s why I love everyone but I do love you the most!”

“Did you finish our new songs yet? You do know we need them for the Duel against Chess or whatever right?”

“Mmhm, it’s right here~” He waves a piece of paper in the air. Suddenly, Izumi was thrown some objects which he catches thanks to his quick reflex, and he frowns at the object in question.

“Another cassette? Why do I have a feeling this isn’t our new song, the one we should be practicing?” Leo just stood there and offered a smile. “After you asked me about home, I decided to make this song. More like two songs! One of them is titled 'Knights Is My Home'and the other one is 'Sena Makes Me Feel Home'.”

“What kind of songs are they? Why would you even title it something like that? If this isn’t our new songs then what is this for?”

“Well, I made it because the inspiration just flow through me! I have a sudden idea to make a song about how this place, Knights, is my new home. The home you and I made, and then the home you make me feel. Sometimes the only way to describe it is with a song!”

Izumi just nods silently as he inspects the cassette in his hand. “Well, you should go home now. It’s late, won’t your parents be worried that if you didn’t come home?”

“I told you, you’re my home! This place is my home after all! Well, when you said that, the house isn’t my home. Not when it’s better for me not to come back.” 

Izumi still couldn’t comprehend whatever is that supposed to mean, and he didn’t dare to ask. Not when he couldn’t admit the feeling that started to brew in his heart.

* * *

Leo hasn’t really gave him a full concrete definition of a home. He claims that everywhere he is and everyone around him makes him feel at home, the company of people alone makes him feel at home.

Yet, his house and his family, with the exception of his little sister wasn’t what he would call a home when it comes to his feelings. A home is after all more than just a house and a family, isn’t it right, Sena? The thing Leo said to him the other day keeps ringing to his mind.

What exactly is home? It can’t be something more than a household or a family right?

After listening to the piece of melody Leo poured and the lyrics he made, he finally understood what a home means to someone, that it’s a feeling where you can be yourself when you’re at home.

He briefly remembers feeling at home when he was a child whenever he was protecting Yuu-kun, whenever he shielded him from the world and became a big brother to him. He feels at home, and he made a person feel at home.

He too, didn’t know how a person like him made Leo Tsukinaga feel at home. But he slowly understood that they build a home in Knights, in each other whenever they were together(Or at least, Leo made him realize what a home is and defined a true home to him)

Izumi watches as the sanctuary they build crumbles against the battlefield, the bloodshed that cost Leo his life where he was left unarmed and tattered.

He visits his house one last time, asking for a signature of Leo for them to participate in the DDD. He looks pale as a paper and lifeless as a void. His voice rigged, and his arms have shown bruises sporting on it.

“Guess you’re right… A home is a house after all. There is nothing more to it, or maybe if there is, I don’t have it.” He said, with a monotonous voice as he suppress the cracks and tears threatening to spill.

 _Please protect Ruka_ was mouthed silently by him as he went back to his room.

Izumi bids his goodbye, as he walked from Leo’s house all the way to his home.

His old music player has some songs that brings him the memory of that day, Knights Is My New Home playing against his eardrums. In the song, he could hear how Leo is grateful for the existence of Knights, the home they made and the haven he watched as it destroys itself.

Izumi is a man who watches the sanctuary he builds for Leo being destroyed brick by brick, as the tunes of his gratitude rings against his ears.

After all, he remembers all too well of an event in his first year that forever changed his high school life.

“Your singing is out of tune. Hilarious! But your face is pretty, I love you! If you keep practicing you’re going to be better!”

He asks him what does that supposed to mean, he wishes he didn’t ( _even if he is glad he did_ ).

“Well, if you ask me what that means it means what it means! It means I like you, wait no I love you! It means you are worthy of my grace! And since I’m the King here, everyone who I love is worthy of my grace! Gaaah~ Who said I am the King? Please ignore that, pretend you don’t hear it!”

As he remembered what happened that day, he couldn’t forget that he builds another home for a person only for him to destroy it. Because the last time he builds a home for a person, they destroy it.

And it seems the gods laughed at his existence, because this time, he just watched it getting teared down.

Their home was destroyed brick by brick, and what was left was only ashes as it remains.

But this time, he will fight for it and build it back again from the start.

He will build the castle once again until it was able to stand on solid grounds, until the castle could be the humble abode worthy of His King, the same way the King once found a home within him, an ordinary rusted knight.

Until the King comes back, he will protect it from harm, as once a person taught him of coming back to a person and being himself when he was with him.

Izumi finally learns that home is also a feeling as much as a home is a person and a place. He will make sure Knights could provide the King his rightful home on his return, the very same day he made it a home to Izumi.

**_(And that was when Leo said that he was worthy of his grace; someone’s love. He wasn’t capable of loving or giving people graces, and yet here he is. He will treasure it as he heads to the battlefield with a sword and a heart in his hands)_ **

**Author's Note:**

> This is my own heavily inspired by Lionheart piece on for one of the prompts about IzuLeo in their early years up until the early third years. It started out as a draft of mine from the one line in Evangelion sub that got stuck to my head, so I went with it. 
> 
> The title is based on a song by the same name, To Build A Home by Cinematic Orchestra. 
> 
> I hope whoever requested this would enjoy my take on this and I hope you like it!


End file.
